WILLIAMSBURG — City of Williamsburg water and sewer crews will begin converting residential water meters to newer technology on Monday, May 13.
According to the city, it is converting all water meters to radio read smart meters, which use low-power radio to allow for an efficient reading from a slow-moving vehicle.
Previous technology that uses an interrogator wand that downloads the meter reading to a handheld data collector and then uploaded to the billing system is reaching its life expectancy and beginning to fail, the city said. Many are no longer able to be read with the interrogator wand and therefore must be visually read, it added.
According to the city, radio read smart meters will improve quality of service and billing accuracy, allowing the it to eventually switch from quarterly to monthly billing.
“This technology is about efficiency, and efficiency is the industry standard,” Public Works & Utilities Director Jack Reed said.
Commercial meters on the city’s water system have already been replaced, it said. Work on residential meters begins Monday, May 13, and is being done in sections, moving through the city based on billing cycles. The city cautioned that each section may take several months to complete.
Eventually, the city will install Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to allow for “touch-of-a-button” meter reading directly to the Municipal Center, it said, and the new meters comply with this technology.
Crews will begin the residential meter changeout in and around Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area and continue in the East Residential corridor, which includes residences east of S. Henry Street, as far south as Route 199 and north to Capitol Landing Road.
Once the conversion is complete in the East Residential area, the meter changeouts will occur in the other corridors in the order listed below:
- York County
- Downtown Residential
- West Residential & York County
Residents will be notified through their neighborhood HOA or flyers on their doors ahead of the work. To be notified when work in your corridor will begin, you can sign up to receive text or email alerts at williamsburgva.gov/alerts.
The city said the water system has a total of 5,068 water meters with approximately 2,660 meters in need of replacement. It expects the meter changeout process to conclude by summer 2025.
